Yeah, I warmed to him on rewatch, too. I think he'll grow into the part.
Paul Wesley's incarnation of James T. Kirk
- Thread starter Caeruleus
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We've seen a handful of scenes from an alternate reality. I think he was good, he wasn't trying to be Shatner's Kirk which is great, he didn't have a lot of chance to give off a load of charm and charisma, which he might get in season two or three. The Jury is out, but I think it's too early to worry about it. I think this Pike has become the Pike and I think Peck has made this version of Spock his own. I expect the same from this new Kirk. It's about giving them time and getting use to it.
There seems to be a lot of 'let's pick the bones out of this just long enough to stop us enjoying it' from the community. I'm trying to avoid falling into that trap here. It's early days.
There seems to be a lot of 'let's pick the bones out of this just long enough to stop us enjoying it' from the community. I'm trying to avoid falling into that trap here. It's early days.
Exactly so.
A very reasonable approach.
Please! The episode literally invites us to make comparisons with the original story, not just outcomes, but also characters. Although I'm sure that there are some people grumbling, "this is not my Kirk," we are well within our rights already to make comparisons and explore the meaning the episode generates, intentional and not. In this episode, it is almost necessary.
You're well within your rights to do whatever you like, it doesn't bother me. I was giving my view on what I'm avoiding. You knock yourself out. I just disagree.
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When does Kirk stop being Kirk? I've heard some say "he doesn't have to be Shatner's Kirk," and other similar statements, but let's face it. Shatner IS Kirk. He defined Kirk. Some characters in literature are written with such indelible qualities that when those qualities are left out, it can no longer be called that particular character - Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth come to mind. James T. Kirk is one such character, and Shatner defined - or at least fleshed out - the fundamentals of who Kirk is. Just like generation on generation of actors that have played the great roles mentioned above, the actor has the obligation to honor those indelible qualities in the playing of their particular take on the role. In Paul Wesley's performance, I saw now meaningful honoring or really even significant attempt to honor who Kirk is - the fundamental premises of the character. Personally, that's why I feel Chris Pine's Kirk was so effective and, now, why Wesley's was not.
Chris Pine did a great job of capturing Shatner's bravado and swagger as Kirk. I don't know what I watched with this latest incarnation. No idea how the Vampire Diaries guy got cast for this one.
Paul Wesley's Kirk is not "my Kirk," and that's okay. I'm actually glad that he didn't try to do an impression of William Shatner since so many people do it so badly. And while, for me, Wesley's Kirk was the weak link of SNW, he's not a dealbreaker for me.
However, since I am a frustrated writer and actor, I have a way to mentally subsume Wesley's interpretation and make it work with "my Kirk."
I have stated before that Wesley's line readings and some of his mannerisms as Kirk reminded me of Will Decker. We know from TMP that Kirk personally recommended young Decker to succeed him as captain of the Enterprise. In "The Corbomite Maneuver," McCoy accused Kirk of promoting Lieutenant Bailey to the navigator's position too early because he saw something in Bailey that reminded him of himself around 11 years ago. While Kirk denied doing so, of course, what if Bones's supposition regarding Kirk's motivation was correct? What if Kirk recommended Decker as his replacement because Decker reminded him of a pre-Enterprise version of himself? The serendipitous coincidence between Paul Wesley and Stephen Collins's acting styles provides the opportunity to mentally reconcile the Shatner and Wesley interpretations of the Kirk character . . . or at least it does for me.
However, since I am a frustrated writer and actor, I have a way to mentally subsume Wesley's interpretation and make it work with "my Kirk."
I have stated before that Wesley's line readings and some of his mannerisms as Kirk reminded me of Will Decker. We know from TMP that Kirk personally recommended young Decker to succeed him as captain of the Enterprise. In "The Corbomite Maneuver," McCoy accused Kirk of promoting Lieutenant Bailey to the navigator's position too early because he saw something in Bailey that reminded him of himself around 11 years ago. While Kirk denied doing so, of course, what if Bones's supposition regarding Kirk's motivation was correct? What if Kirk recommended Decker as his replacement because Decker reminded him of a pre-Enterprise version of himself? The serendipitous coincidence between Paul Wesley and Stephen Collins's acting styles provides the opportunity to mentally reconcile the Shatner and Wesley interpretations of the Kirk character . . . or at least it does for me.
Hasn't been for quite some years, now.
Oh, good.
Oh God I watched a short clip. Of him appearing on screen. Is it just me or... HAVE! william SHATNERS weird speech MANNERISMS! Returned to StAr tReK?
No one is saying he needed to impersonate Shatner. Pine didn't. He just didn't have the screen-presence of Shatner and that hurts the image of Kirk. (And this is after we're TOLD how much Kirk uses his charm.) And if you can't allow that presence to not upstage Pike/Mount then you don't do Kirk. Because most of Kirk is in his charm, his swagger, and his smile. You don't need Shatner's halting 1960s television line-delivery, but, dammit, you need to feel like someone who has charm.
And it shouldn't matter that this Kirk didn't have the Enterprise. Kirk made the Enterprise, the Enterprise didn't make Kirk. Without the war started in this alt-universe for all we know the Farragut could have become legendary because of Kirk's time in it.
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Technically, Pine was a different Kirk. Totally different life experiences = different person, IMO.
If this is the same Kirk as Shatner Kirk then expecting similarity is fair game, so long as his being 8-10 years younger is taken into account. IMO.
Some here are. Some here are not, unfairly demanding he be a carbon copy is unreasonable. IMO
If this is the same Kirk as Shatner Kirk then expecting similarity is fair game, so long as his being 8-10 years younger is taken into account. IMO.
Some here are. Some here are not, unfairly demanding he be a carbon copy is unreasonable. IMO
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